no title

Casinos

Surveillance video helps in casino cheating conviction

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoHollywood CasinoAn image from Hollywood Casino surveillance video shows David Kim, 32, of Bexley, as he moves a bet. Video of the cheating can be viewed at Dispatch.com/video.

More Articles

The video evidence was clear: A camera in the ceiling above a table game at Hollywood Casino
captured images of David Kim, a 32-year-old Bexley man, twice moving his bets after a dealer had
revealed the winning cards.

Kim’s attorney, Sam Shamansky, couldn’t deny what was obvious to jurors last week in Franklin
County’s first trial of alleged casino cheating.

“Of course he moved those chips,” Shamansky said in his closing argument on Wednesday. But there
was no proof that Kim “knowingly or intentionally” was cheating, the attorney said, referring to
language in the state law outlining what constitutes wrongdoing by casino patrons.

The jurors disagreed, convicting Kim of two casino-gaming offenses. He became the fifth person
convicted of cheating at Hollywood Casino since it opened in October on Georgesville Road on the
West Side. The other four all pleaded guilty. Cases against 10 other defendants are unresolved.

Kim could be sent to prison for one year on each of the fifth-degree felonies when he is
sentenced on Aug. 9, although such offenses typically lead to probation. That has been the sentence
for each of the defendants who pleaded guilty to the crime in Franklin County.

Statewide, 79 people have been charged with cheating at Ohio’s four Las Vegas-style casinos
since the first one opened in May 2012 in Cleveland, said Karen Huey, the director of enforcement
for the state Casino Control Commission. She said the enforcement effort is aimed at “protecting
the integrity of casino gambling in the state” as well as tax dollars from casino revenue.

The video evidence that was central to the case against Kim is “an extremely valuable tool” for
enforcement agents, she said.

Hollywood Casino has about 1,200 video cameras monitored around the clock by surveillance agents
working for the casino and gaming-enforcement agents working for the state, according to trial
testimony. More than half of the cameras can rotate 360 degrees and zoom in closely enough to
display serial numbers on currency, surveillance worker David Wicker testified.

Wicker said he noticed Kim’s “erratic behavior” while monitoring a table game known as mini
baccarat on Oct. 16, eight days after the casino opened. Dealers caught Kim several times during a
three-hour visit as he attempted to move a chip to a winning bet or pull a chip off a losing bet
after the cards had been dealt. Casino employees alerted state gaming agents, who moved in and
grabbed Kim after he twice succeeded in cheating a dealer, according to testimony.

Huey said agents are instructed to make sure that a dealer warns patrons and corrects their
behavior before anyone is removed from a table to be investigated for cheating. The gaming agents —
12 are assigned to each casino — are certified law-enforcement officers trained in how some
gamblers cheat.

Because casino cheating is “a crime of intent,” agents look for a pattern in which a player is
repeatedly corrected and knows the behavior is wrong but continues to violate the rules, Huey
said.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said it’s clear to him that the Casino Control Commission
“doesn’t want to bring cases here that involve people who are merely confused.” He decided to
assign the casino cases to assistant prosecutors who specialize in white-collar crime and were
trained about casino-gaming violations.

Assistant Prosecutor Jeffrey Blake told jurors that Kim’s behavior at the casino revealed that
he knew exactly what he was doing. “He only moved losing bets,” Blake said.

The result of his two cheats was a loss of $45 for the casino. Shamansky suggested that charging
Kim with two felonies over that amount demonstrated “the absurdity” of the state’s casino statute.
In Ohio, most thefts of less than $1,000 are misdemeanors.

Huey said Ohio legislators “wanted to send a strong message about how the state was going to
provide oversight of the casinos and have a strong level of enforcement. That’s why they chose to
make it a felony-level crime” regardless of the dollar amount.

The commission “is happy with the verdict,” she said, “because it sets a tone for deterrence and
awareness in the community.”